The System of Polish Education in Great Britain

Abstract

The system of the Polish education in Great Britain is closely connected with the character of the Polish emigration of war. All transformations that the Poles in Great Britain had undergone, simultaneously changed the main aims of the Polish education. Hence, two phases of the Polish education can be distinguished:

1. the period of the military emigration of war (1940-1947);
   2. the period of the intensive adaptation with the British society (since 1947).

In the first period the education of Poles was under the authority of the

Polish Government-in-Exile. It was to offer education for the soldiers as well as to work out the system of education in post-war Poland.

After the Polish Army had been demobilized, the responsibility for the education of Poles was taken over by the Interim Treasury Committee for Polish Questions (1945-1947) and then by the Committee far the Education of Poles in Great Britain (1947-1954). Both institutions tended to enable the Poles to obtain education from the British authorities. This intensive process of adaptation threatened with the danger of complete assimilation with the British society.

However, the Polish political emigrants, thanks to their deep national awareness, understood the necessity and value of keeping up their national character. They contributed a lot to organizing the Polish national education in Great Britain based on free, voluntary work of Polish teachers, priests and social organizations. In 1980, there were 68 Polish Saturday schools, two grammar schools and the Polish University-in-Exile. This whole system depends largely on a few Polish educational organizations.

The history of the Polish education in Great Britain shows great efforts of the Polish ethnic group in order to maintain the values of the Polish culture. Methods of teaching, however, are far from being ideal. If the Polish system of education is to survive and serve future generations, the process of teaching has to be enriched by the idea of biculturalism.